Bypass Login for Applications on Mobile Devices

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a social-networking system authenticates a user of a mobile device, receives a request from the mobile device to install a software application, transmits data to the mobile device comprising the software application and an installation identifier (ID), receives another request including the installation ID from the mobile device to authorize the software application, evaluates the installation ID for validity, and transmits yet another response to the mobile device in accordance with the evaluation.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. §120 of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/425,165, filed 20 Mar. 2012, which isincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to social-networking systems.

BACKGROUND

A social-networking system, such as a social-networking website, enablesits users to interact with it and with each other through the system.The social-networking system may create and store a record, oftenreferred to as a user profile, in connection with the user. The userprofile may include a user's demographic information, communicationchannel information, and personal interests. The social-networkingsystem may also create and store a record of a user's relationship withother users in the social-networking system (e.g., social graph), aswell as provide services (e.g., wall-posts, photo-sharing, eventorganization, messaging, games, or advertisements) to facilitate socialinteraction between users in the social-networking system. Thesocial-networking system may transmit contents and messages related toits services to a user's client device over a network. Thesocial-networking system may generate a personalized set of contentobjects to display to the user, such as a newsfeed of aggregated storiesof the user's first-degree connections. A user may also install softwareapplications that access their user profile and other data from thesocial-networking system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network environment of an examplesocial-networking system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example network environment of a system front end.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example computer system.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example network environment.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system, such as asocial-networking website (e.g., FACEBOOK.COM), may enable its users tointeract with it, and with each other through, the system. In order toaccess the social-networking system, a user may have to register,sign-up, or create an account on the social-networking system.Thereafter, the user may have to authenticate their identity tosubsequently access the social-networking system. In particularembodiments, the social-networking system may use a unique identifier(ID) to authenticate a user. The unique ID may be generated by thesocial-networking system or created by the user. As an example and notby way of limitation, the unique ID may comprise a login ID, a password,other authentication information, or any combination thereof. As usedherein, a “user” may be an individual (e.g., a human user), an entity(e.g., an enterprise, business, or third party application), or a group(e.g., of individuals or entities). Although this disclosure describesauthenticating users in a particular manner, this disclosurecontemplates authenticating users in any suitable manner.

In particular embodiments, a user of a social-networking system may havea user profile associated with the user. The user profile may be storedby the social-networking system. The user profile may includeinformation provided by the user or information gathered by varioussystems (such as, for example, the social-networking system or athird-party website) relating to the user, or the user's activities andaction. As an example and not by way of limitation, the user may providehis name, profile picture, contact information, birth date, gender,marital status, family status, employment, education background,preferences, interests, and other demographical information to beincluded in his user profile. The user may identify or bookmark websitesor web pages he visits frequently and these websites or web pages may beincluded in the user's profile. The user may identify other users of thesocial-networking system that the user considers to be his friends. Alist of the user's friends or first-degree contacts may be included inthe user's profile. Although this disclosure describes particular userprofiles, this disclosure contemplates any suitable user profiles.

In particular embodiments, social-networking system may maintain asocial graph. A user of the social-networking system may be representedas a node in the social graph. A relationship between two users (suchas, for example, a friendship, a familial relationship, etc.) may berepresented as an edge connected the nodes representing the two users.The degree of separation between any two nodes is defined as the minimumnumber of hops required to traverse the social graph from one node tothe other. In particular embodiments, the degree of separation betweentwo users may be considered a measure of relatedness between the twousers represented by the nodes in the graph. Although this disclosuredescribes particular types of social graphs, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable types of social graphs.

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may support avariety of applications, such as, for example, a news feed, mediasharing, online calendars, event management, online communications(e.g., email, instant messaging, text, voice or video chat, wall posts,etc.), or other suitable applications. As an example and not by way oflimitation, the social-networking system may allow a user to postphotographs and other multimedia files to his user profile (e.g., in awall post or in a photo album) that may be accessible to other users ofthe social-networking system. Although this disclosure describes asocial-networking system with particular types of application, thisdisclosure contemplates social-networking systems with any suitabletypes of applications.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network environment of an examplesocial-networking system. In particular embodiments, a social-networkingsystem may comprise one or more data stores 101. As an example and notby way of limitation, the social-networking system may storeuser-profile data and social-graph information in data stores 101. Inparticular embodiments, each data store 101 may comprise one or morestorage devices. In particular embodiments, the social-networking systemmay comprise one or more computing devices (such as, for example,servers) hosting functionality directed to operation of thesocial-networking system. In particular embodiments, one or more of datastores 101 may be operably connected to the social-networking system'sfront end 120. As an example and not by way of limitation, front end 120may be implemented in software programs hosted by one or more computingdevices of the social-networking system. A user of the social-networkingsystem may access the social-networking system using a client device122. In particular embodiments, the system front end 120 may interactwith the client device 122 through a network cloud 121. The networkcloud 121 may represent a network or collection of networks (such as theInternet, a corporate intranet, a virtual private network, a local areanetwork, a wireless local area network, a cellular network, a wide areanetwork, a metropolitan area network, or a combination of two or moresuch networks) over which a client devices 122 may access the socialnetworking system. In particular embodiments, a client device 122 may bea computer or computing device including functionality for communicating(e.g., remotely) over a computer network. As an example and not by wayof limitation, a client device 122 may be a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, personal digital assistant (PDA), in- or out-of-car navigationsystem, smart phone or other cellular or mobile phone, mobile gamingdevice, another suitable computing device, or two or more such computingdevices. In particular embodiments, a client device 122 may execute oneor more client applications, such as a web browser (e.g., MICROSOFTWINDOWS INTERNET EXPLORER, MOZILLA FIREFOX, APPLE SAFARI, GOOGLE CHROME,and OPERA, etc.) or special-purpose client application (e.g., FACEBOOKFOR IPHONE, etc.), to access and view content over a computer network.In particular embodiments, the system front end 120 may include web orHTTP server functionality, as well as other functionality, to allowusers to access the social-networking system.

In particular embodiments, users of a social-networking system mayaccess other websites or third-party websites (e.g.,http://www.espn.com, http://www.youtube.com). As an example and not byway of limitation, a user may use a client device 122 to connect to andcommunicate with a third-party website 130 through the network cloud121. The third-party website 130 may comprise a web server 131operatively connected to one or more data stores 132 storing user dataand webpage information. User data may include, for example, user name,user profile picture, and user profile information (e.g., location,affiliation, interest). Webpage information may include, for example,page-layout information, scripts, webpage content such as text (e.g.,ASCII or HTML), media data (e.g., graphics, photos, video clips), andexecutable code objects (e.g., a game executable within a browser windowor frame). In particular embodiments, a user may use a web browser orspecial-purpose client application hosted on the client device 122 toaccess a third-party website 130 by sending an HTTP request to a webserver 131, causing the web server 131 to access the one or more datastores 132 and construct one or more webpages or frames displayed in theweb browser or the special-purpose client application.

A social-networking system may communicate with and access a third-partywebsite 130, and vice versa, through a network cloud 121. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, a webpage constructed by third-partywebsite 130 for a user of a social-networking system may containinformation from the social-networking system, such as a framedisplaying profile pictures of the user's first-degree friends who arecurrently active on third-party website 130. As an example and not byway of limitation, a user's user-profile page of a social-networkingsystem may contain an embedded video clip that the user posted onthird-party website 130. In particular embodiments, a webpageconstructed by a first website may include one or more inline referencesthat cause the client device 122 to access and display content from asecond website by incorporating in the webpage's HTML document UniformResource Locations (URLs) and/or script code (e.g., JavaScript, PHP,AJAX) that causes a client application hosted on the client device 122to access the second website to dynamically provide content specified bythe script code (e.g., profile pictures). In particular embodiments, abrowser cookie installed by a second website on client device 122 may beused to facilitate accessing the second website. As an example and notby way of limitation, requests transmitted to the social-networkingsystem for a particular user may include a browser cookie or other tokento enable authentication and access to the social-networking system forthe particular user (such as, for example, to access and display profilepictures of the particular user's first-degree friends), without theparticular user having to manually enter user identifier (ID) andpassword information of the social-networking system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example network environment of a system front end120 of a social-networking system. The system front end 120 mayfacilitate accessing a social-networking system by a mobile clientdevice 122. In particular embodiments, a user of a mobile client device122 may choose to access the social-networking system via variouschannels. As an example and not by way of limitation, the mobile clientdevice 122 may access the standard website 235 associated with thesocial-networking system (e.g., http://www.facebook.com) using astandard browser client. As another example and not by way oflimitation, the mobile client device 122 may access the mobile versionof the website 236 associated with the social-networking system (e.g.,http://m.facebook.com/) using a mobile browser client (e.g., alightweight WAP browser, such as OPERA MINI or BLACKBERRY BROWSER). Asyet another example and not by way of limitation, the mobile clientsystem 122 may access the a native mobile application server 237associated with the social-network system (e.g., a native FACEBOOKMOBILE app server) using a native software application (e.g., FACEBOOKFOR IOS, or FACEBOOK FOR ANDROID). The system front end 120 may generateviews for the mobile client device 122 based the channel used to accessthe social-networking system. Although this disclosure describesaccessing a social-networking system in a particular manner, thisdisclosure contemplates accessing a social-networking system in anysuitable manner.

In particular embodiments, a mobile client device 122 may utilize one ormore software applications 240. The software application 240 may be anative software application resident in the application memory of themobile client device, or it may be a software application storedremotely (e.g., on a third-party server). The software application 240may be any suitable computer program for performing any suitableactivity. As an example and not by way of limitation, the softwareapplication 240 may be an application that facilitates accessing thesocial-networking system (e.g., FACEBOOK FOR IOS, or FACEBOOK FORANDROID). As another example and not by way of limitation, the softwareapplication 240 may be an application that accesses data on thesocial-networking system for other uses (e.g., SPOTIFY, ZYNGA POKER,etc.). In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may receivedata from or transmit data to a software application 240 through anetwork cloud 121. A browser cookie installed on the mobile clientdevice 122 (e.g., by the system front end 120) may be used to facilitateaccessing the social-networking system. As an example and not by way oflimitation, requests transmitted to the social-networking system from auser of a mobile client device 122 may include a browser cookie or othertoken to enable authentication and access to the social-networkingsystem for the particular user (such as, for example, to access anddisplay profile pictures of the particular user's first-degree friends),without the particular user having to manually enter a login ID andpassword information of the social-networking system. In particularembodiments, a software application 240 may receive data from ortransmit data to the social-networking system through a network cloud121. A mobile client device 122 may access a software application 240 bylaunching the software application from the program memory of the mobileclient device 122. The software application 240 may then access thesystem front end 120, for example, by using an application programminginterface (API) protocol. Although this disclosure describes utilizingparticular software applications in a particular manner, this disclosurecontemplates utilizing any suitable software applications in anysuitable manner.

In particular embodiments, a user of a social-networking system maydownload a software application 240 from a third-party website 130 to amobile client device 122. As an example and not by way of limitation,the user may access a third-party online “application store,” such as,for example, the IPHONE APP STORE, ANDROID MARKET, or another suitablethird-party website 130, from a mobile client device 122. The user maythen download the software application 240 from the third-party website130 and install the software application 240 on the mobile client device122. When the software application 240 is executed, the softwareapplication 240 may then access social-networking data on thesocial-networking system. Social-networking data may include, forexample, social graph information, user profiles, or other suitable datastored on the social-networking system. In order to access thesocial-networking system with the software application 240, thesocial-networking system may require the user to authenticate hisidentity, such as, for example by providing his unique ID (e.g., loginID and password). After the social-networking system has authenticatedthe user's identity, the software application 240 may be authorized toaccess the social-networking system. Although this disclosure describesdownloading particular software applications in a particular manner,this disclosure contemplates downloading any suitable softwareapplications in any suitable manner. Moreover, although this disclosuredescribes authorizing software applications in a particular manner, thisdisclosure contemplates authorizing software applications in anysuitable manner.

In particular embodiments, a user of a social-networking system maydownload a software application 240 from the social-networking system toa mobile client device 122. As an example and not by way of limitation,the user may access an application store associated with thesocial-networking system, such as, for example,http://www.facebook.com/apps, or another suitable website associatedwith the social-networking system from a mobile client device 122. Inorder to access the application store associated with thesocial-networking system, the social-networking system may require theuser to authenticate his identity, such as, for example by providing hisunique ID (e.g., login ID and password). After the social-networkingsystem has authenticated the user's identity, the user may then accessthe application store associated with the social-networking system todownload a software application 240 from the application store to themobile client device 122. When transmitting the software application240, the social-networking system may also transmit an installationidentifier (ID) that may be used to indicate that the user of thatmobile client device 122 has been authenticated, such that the user maynot have to authenticate when the user later executes the softwareapplication. When the software application 240 is executed, the softwareapplication 240 may access social-networking data on thesocial-networking system. In order to access the social-networkingsystem with the software application 240, the social-networking systemmay require the user to authenticate his identity, such as, for exampleby providing his unique ID (e.g., login ID and password). In particularembodiments, to access the social-networking system with the softwareapplication 240, the mobile client device 122 may authenticate the userby transmitting the installation ID to the social-networking system. Thesocial-networking system may then evaluate the installation ID todetermine if it is valid, and, if it is valid, may authorize thesoftware application 240 to access the social-networking system withoutthe user having to provide his unique ID, thus bypassing login process.Although this disclosure describes downloading particular softwareapplications in a particular manner, this disclosure contemplatesdownloading any suitable software applications in any suitable manner.Moreover, although this disclosure describes authorizing softwareapplications in a particular manner, this disclosure contemplatesauthorizing software applications in any suitable manner.

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may authenticate auser of a mobile client device 122. The user may be associated with thesocial-networking system. As an example and not by way of limitation, alogin ID and a password to authenticate a user. As another example andnot by way of limitation, the social-networking system may access abrowser cookie or other token installed by the social-networking systemon the mobile client device 122 that indicates that the user isauthenticated. Although this disclosure describes authenticating a userin a particular manner, this disclosure contemplates authenticating auser in any suitable manner.

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may receive arequest from a mobile client device 122 to install a softwareapplication 240 on the mobile client device 122. After accessing anapplication store associated with the social-networking system, the usermay select one or more software applications 240 that they wish toinstall to a mobile client device 122. This selection may be transmittedas a request to the social-networking system. As an example and not byway of limitation, a user may access http://www.facebook.com/apps usinga mobile client device 122, where the user may view a webpage listingone or more software applications 240 that are available forinstallation. The user may then select a software application 240 toinstall, for example, by clicking on an icon associated with thesoftware application 240. This may take the user to a new webpage wherethe software application 240 may be installed, or it may immediatelyinstall the software application 240 to the mobile client device 122. Inparticular embodiments, the social-networking system may generate asession (such as, for example, an API session) in response to the firstrequest. This session may be stored, and may be used to record therequest and any data transmitted in response to the request. Althoughthis disclosure describes receiving particular requests from a mobileclient device 122, this disclosure contemplates receiving any suitablerequests from a mobile client device 122.

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may transmit datato a mobile client device 122 comprising a software application 240 anda first installation identifier (ID). The mobile client device 122 maystore the software application 240 and the first installation ID, forexample, in a data store on the mobile client device 122. The firstinstallation ID may be used to indicate that the user of the mobileclient device 122 has already been authenticated by thesocial-networking system, for example, when a software application 240on the mobile client device 122 attempts to access the social-networkingsystem. The first installation ID may be generated in any suitablemanner, such as, for example, by using a random number generator, a hashfunction, a private/public key system, another suitable manner, or anycombination thereof. In particular embodiments, the transmitted softwareapplication 240 may be installation files for a particular softwareapplication. The installation files may be executed to install theparticular software application or to download further data forinstalling the particular software application on the mobile clientdevice 122. In particular embodiments, the transmitted softwareapplication 240 may be files for accessing a computer program via thenetwork cloud 121. That is, the software application 240 may only be afront-end application for accessing a particular computer program. Inparticular embodiments, the transmitted software application 240 may bedata that allows the mobile client device 122 to access a web-basedcomputer program, such as, for example, via a suitable browser client.In particular embodiments, the first installation ID may include atimestamp. As an example and not by way of limitation, the timestamp onthe first installation ID may be based on the time when thesocial-networking received a request from the mobile client device 122to install the software application 240. As another example and not byway of limitation, the timestamp on the first installation ID may bebased on the time when first installation ID was transmitted to themobile client device 122. In particular embodiments, the firstinstallation ID may be encrypted. In particular embodiments, the firstinstallation ID may be stored in a session (such as, for example, an APIsession), where it can be accessed later by the social-networkingsystem. Although this disclosure describes transmitting particular datato a mobile client device 122, this disclosure contemplates transmittingany suitable data to a mobile client device 122. Moreover, although thisdisclosure describes transmitting particular software applications, thisdisclosure contemplates transmitting any suitable software applications.

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may receive arequest from a mobile client device 122 to authorize a softwareapplication 240. The request may comprise a second installing ID, whichmay be based on the first installation ID that was previouslytransmitted with the software application 240 to the mobile device. Thesecond installation ID may comprise information indicating that the userof the mobile client device 122 has been authenticated. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, when the user of the mobile client device122 attempts to use the software application 240, the softwareapplication 240 may attempt to access the social-networking system. Inorder to authorize the software application 240 to access thesocial-networking system, the social-networking system may require theuser to authenticate his identity. The mobile client device 122 mayattempt to authenticate the user of the mobile client device 122 bytransmitting the second installation ID, which may indicate that theuser of the mobile client device 122 has already been authenticated bythe social-networking system. In particular embodiments, the secondinstallation ID may be encrypted. Although this disclosure describesreceiving particular requests from a mobile client device 122, thisdisclosure contemplates receiving any suitable requests from a mobileclient device 122.

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may evaluate asecond installation ID for validity. The second installation ID may bebased on a first installation ID that was transmitted to the mobileclient device 122 with the software application 240 when the softwareapplication 240 was installed on the mobile client device 122. Thisevaluation may be done in response to receiving a request from themobile client device 122 to authorize a software application 240,wherein the second installation ID was received with the request. Inparticular embodiments, the social-networking system may evaluate thesecond installation ID for validity by determining whether the secondinstallation ID is based on the first installation ID. As an example andnot by way of limitation, the mobile client device 122 may have receiveda first installation ID that was encrypted (for example by usingasymmetric key cryptography). The mobile client device 122 may havedecrypted the first installation ID and stored the decrypted data on adata store on the mobile client device 122. When the user attempts toauthorize the software application 240, the mobile client device 122 mayaccess the installation ID from the data store and encrypt it togenerate a second installation ID, which may be transmitted to thesocial-networking system. Thus, the second installation ID is based onthe first installation ID in this case, however the first and secondinstallation IDs are not necessarily identical. The social-networkingsystem may then receive the second installation ID, decrypt it, andevaluate it for validity by confirming that it is based on the firstinstallation ID. In particular embodiments, the social-networking systemmay evaluate the second installation ID for validity by determiningwhether the second installation ID substantially matches the firstinstallation ID. As an example and not by way of limitation, the mobileclient device 122 may have stored the first installation ID in a datastore on the mobile client device 122. When the user attempts toauthorize the software application 240, the mobile client device 122 mayaccess the stored first installation ID and transmit the stored firstinstallation ID as the second installation ID. Thus, the first andsecond installation IDs should be substantially identical in this case.The social-networking system may then evaluate the second installationID received from the mobile client device 122 to confirm that it issubstantially identical to the first installation ID that was previouslytransmitted when the software application 240 was installed on themobile client device 122. In particular embodiments, thesocial-networking system may access the first installation ID from astored session (such as, for example, an API session) and then evaluatethe second installation ID for validity by determining whether thesecond installation ID is based on the first installation ID from thestored session. In particular embodiments, the social-networking systemmay evaluate the second installation ID for validity by determiningwhether the second installation ID has expired. As an example and not byway of limitation, the social-networking system may determine whether atimestamp included with the second installation ID is older than athreshold period of time. If the timestamp is older than the thresholdperiod of time, then the social-networking system may indicate that thesecond installation ID is not valid. However, if the timestamp is notolder than the threshold period of time, then the social-networkingsystem may indicate that the second installation ID is valid. Thethreshold period of time may be any suitable period of time, such as,for example, 1 second, 1 minute, 1 hour, 24 hours, or another suitableperiod of time. Although this disclosure describes evaluating particularinstallation IDs for validity in a particular manner, this disclosurecontemplates evaluating any suitable installation IDs for validity inany suitable manner.

In particular embodiments, a social-networking system may transmit aresponse to a mobile client device 122 in accordance with the evaluationof the validity of the second installation ID. If the secondinstallation ID is evaluated as invalid, then the social-networkingsystem may transmit a response comprising a request to the mobile clientdevice 122 to authenticate the user of the mobile client device 122. Asan example and not by way of limitation, if the second installation IDis evaluated as invalid, then the social-networking system may requirethe user to provide his unique ID (e.g., login ID and password) toauthenticate the user. However, if the second installation ID isevaluated as valid, then the social-networking system may transmit aresponse comprising data authorizing the software application 240. As anexample and not by way of limitation, if the second installation ID isevaluated as valid, then the social-networking system may transmitsocial-networking data to the mobile client device 122 for use by thesoftware application 240. In particular embodiments, thesocial-networking system may transmit an access token that indicatedthat the software application 240 is authorized to access thesocial-networking system. As an example and not by way of limitation, ifthe second installation ID is evaluated as valid, then thesocial-networking system may transmit an access token to the mobileclient device 122, allowing the software application 240 to accesssocial-networking data on the social-networking system. Although thisdisclosure describes transmitting particular responses to a mobileclient device 122 in accordance with particular evaluations, thisdisclosure contemplates transmitting any suitable responses to a mobileclient device 122 in accordance with any suitable evaluations.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method 300 for implementing particularembodiments. The method begins at step 310, where the social-networkingsystem may authenticate a user of a mobile client device 122. At step320, the social-networking system may receive a first request from themobile client device 122 to install a software application 240 on themobile client device 122. At step 330, the social-networking system maytransmit a first data to the mobile client device 122 comprising thesoftware application 240 and a first installation ID. The firstinstallation ID may also comprise a timestamp based on the time when thefirst installation ID was transmitted to the mobile client device 122.At step 340, the social-networking system may receive a second requestfrom the mobile client device 122 to authorize the software application240. The second request may comprise a second installation ID that isbased on the first installation ID. At step 350, the social-networkingsystem may evaluate the second installation ID for validity. At steps360-380, the social-networking system may transmit a response to themobile client device 122 in accordance with the evaluation. If thesecond installation ID is valid at step 360, then the social-networkingsystem may transmit a response comprising a second data authorizing thesoftware application 240 at step 370. However, if the secondinstallation ID is not valid at step 360, then the social-networkingsystem may transmit a response comprising a third request to the mobileclient device 122 to authenticate the user of the mobile client device122 at step 380. Although this disclosure describes and illustratesparticular steps of the method of FIG. 3 as occurring in a particularorder, this disclosure contemplates any suitable steps of the method ofFIG. 3 occurring in any suitable order. Moreover, although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates particular components carrying outparticular steps of the method of FIG. 3, this disclosure contemplatesany suitable combination of any suitable components carrying out anysuitable steps of the method of FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example computer system 400. In particularembodiments, one or more computer systems 400 perform one or more stepsof one or more methods described or illustrated herein. In particularembodiments, one or more computer systems 400 provide functionalitydescribed or illustrated herein. In particular embodiments, softwarerunning on one or more computer systems 400 performs one or more stepsof one or more methods described or illustrated herein or providesfunctionality described or illustrated herein. Particular embodimentsinclude one or more portions of one or more computer systems 400.

This disclosure contemplates any suitable number of computer systems400. This disclosure contemplates computer system 400 taking anysuitable physical form. As example and not by way of limitation,computer system 400 may be an embedded computer system, a system-on-chip(SOC), a single-board computer system (SBC) (such as, for example, acomputer-on-module (COM) or system-on-module (SOM)), a desktop computersystem, a laptop or notebook computer system, an interactive kiosk, amainframe, a mesh of computer systems, a mobile telephone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a server, a tablet computer system, or acombination of two or more of these. Where appropriate, computer system400 may include one or more computer systems 400; be unitary ordistributed; span multiple locations; span multiple machines; spanmultiple data centers; or reside in a cloud, which may include one ormore cloud components in one or more networks. Where appropriate, one ormore computer systems 400 may perform without substantial spatial ortemporal limitation one or more steps of one or more methods describedor illustrated herein. As an example and not by way of limitation, oneor more computer systems 400 may perform in real time or in batch modeone or more steps of one or more methods described or illustratedherein. One or more computer systems 400 may perform at different timesor at different locations one or more steps of one or more methodsdescribed or illustrated herein, where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, computer system 400 includes a processor 402,memory 404, storage 406, an input/output (I/O) interface 408, acommunication interface 410, and a bus 412. Although this disclosuredescribes and illustrates a particular computer system having aparticular number of particular components in a particular arrangement,this disclosure contemplates any suitable computer system having anysuitable number of any suitable components in any suitable arrangement.

In particular embodiments, processor 402 includes hardware for executinginstructions, such as those making up a computer program. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, processor 402 mayretrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internal register, aninternal cache, memory 404, or storage 406; decode and execute them; andthen write one or more results to an internal register, an internalcache, memory 404, or storage 406. In particular embodiments, processor402 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, oraddresses. This disclosure contemplates processor 402 including anysuitable number of any suitable internal caches, where appropriate. Asan example and not by way of limitation, processor 402 may include oneor more instruction caches, one or more data caches, and one or moretranslation lookaside buffers (TLBs). Instructions in the instructioncaches may be copies of instructions in memory 404 or storage 406, andthe instruction caches may speed up retrieval of those instructions byprocessor 402. Data in the data caches may be copies of data in memory404 or storage 406 for instructions executing at processor 402 tooperate on; the results of previous instructions executed at processor402 for access by subsequent instructions executing at processor 402 orfor writing to memory 404 or storage 406; or other suitable data. Thedata caches may speed up read or write operations by processor 402. TheTLBs may speed up virtual-address translation for processor 402. Inparticular embodiments, processor 402 may include one or more internalregisters for data, instructions, or addresses. This disclosurecontemplates processor 402 including any suitable number of any suitableinternal registers, where appropriate. Where appropriate, processor 402may include one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs); be a multi-coreprocessor; or include one or more processors 402. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular processor, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable processor.

In particular embodiments, memory 404 includes main memory for storinginstructions for processor 402 to execute or data for processor 402 tooperate on. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system400 may load instructions from storage 406 or another source (such as,for example, another computer system 400) to memory 404. Processor 402may then load the instructions from memory 404 to an internal registeror internal cache. To execute the instructions, processor 402 mayretrieve the instructions from the internal register or internal cacheand decode them. During or after execution of the instructions,processor 402 may write one or more results (which may be intermediateor final results) to the internal register or internal cache. Processor402 may then write one or more of those results to memory 404. Inparticular embodiments, processor 402 executes only instructions in oneor more internal registers or internal caches or in memory 404 (asopposed to storage 406 or elsewhere) and operates only on data in one ormore internal registers or internal caches or in memory 404 (as opposedto storage 406 or elsewhere). One or more memory buses (which may eachinclude an address bus and a data bus) may couple processor 402 tomemory 404. Bus 412 may include one or more memory buses, as describedbelow. In particular embodiments, one or more memory management units(MMUs) reside between processor 402 and memory 404 and facilitateaccesses to memory 404 requested by processor 402. In particularembodiments, memory 404 includes random access memory (RAM). This RAMmay be volatile memory, where appropriate Where appropriate, this RAMmay be dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM). Moreover, whereappropriate, this RAM may be single-ported or multi-ported RAM. Thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable RAM. Memory 404 may include one ormore memories 404, where appropriate. Although this disclosure describesand illustrates particular memory, this disclosure contemplates anysuitable memory.

In particular embodiments, storage 406 includes mass storage for data orinstructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage 406may include a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy disk drive, flash memory,an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or a UniversalSerial Bus (USB) drive or a combination of two or more of these. Storage406 may include removable or non-removable (or fixed) media, whereappropriate. Storage 406 may be internal or external to computer system400, where appropriate. In particular embodiments, storage 406 isnon-volatile, solid-state memory. In particular embodiments, storage 406includes read-only memory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may bemask-programmed ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM),electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), electrically alterable ROM (EAROM),or flash memory or a combination of two or more of these. Thisdisclosure contemplates mass storage 406 taking any suitable physicalform. Storage 406 may include one or more storage control unitsfacilitating communication between processor 402 and storage 406, whereappropriate. Where appropriate, storage 406 may include one or morestorages 406. Although this disclosure describes and illustratesparticular storage, this disclosure contemplates any suitable storage.

In particular embodiments, I/O interface 408 includes hardware,software, or both providing one or more interfaces for communicationbetween computer system 400 and one or more I/O devices. Computer system400 may include one or more of these I/O devices, where appropriate. Oneor more of these I/O devices may enable communication between a personand computer system 400. As an example and not by way of limitation, anI/O device may include a keyboard, keypad, microphone, monitor, mouse,printer, scanner, speaker, still camera, stylus, tablet, touch screen,trackball, video camera, another suitable I/O device or a combination oftwo or more of these. An I/O device may include one or more sensors.This disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O devices and any suitableI/O interfaces 408 for them. Where appropriate, I/O interface 408 mayinclude one or more device or software drivers enabling processor 402 todrive one or more of these I/O devices. I/O interface 408 may includeone or more I/O interfaces 408, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular I/O interface, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable I/O interface.

In particular embodiments, communication interface 410 includeshardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces forcommunication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) betweencomputer system 400 and one or more other computer systems 400 or one ormore networks. As an example and not by way of limitation, communicationinterface 410 may include a network interface controller (NIC) ornetwork adapter for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-basednetwork or a wireless NIC (WNIC) or wireless adapter for communicatingwith a wireless network, such as a WI-FI network. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable network and any suitable communicationinterface 410 for it. As an example and not by way of limitation,computer system 400 may communicate with an ad hoc network, a personalarea network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of theInternet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portionsof one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As anexample, computer system 400 may communicate with a wireless PAN (WPAN)(such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network, a WI-MAXnetwork, a cellular telephone network (such as, for example, a GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM) network), or other suitablewireless network or a combination of two or more of these. Computersystem 400 may include any suitable communication interface 410 for anyof these networks, where appropriate. Communication interface 410 mayinclude one or more communication interfaces 410, where appropriate.Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particularcommunication interface, this disclosure contemplates any suitablecommunication interface.

In particular embodiments, bus 412 includes hardware, software, or bothcoupling components of computer system 400 to each other. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, bus 412 may include an AcceleratedGraphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry StandardArchitecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT)interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBANDinterconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, aPCI-Express (PCIe) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA)bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, oranother suitable bus or a combination of two or more of these. Bus 412may include one or more buses 412, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular bus, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable bus or interconnect.

Herein, reference to a computer-readable non-transitory storage mediummay include a semiconductor-based or other integrated circuit (IC) (suchas, for example, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or anapplication-specific IC (ASIC)), a hard disk drive (HDD), a hybrid harddrive (HHD), an optical disc, an optical disc drive (ODD), amagneto-optical disc, a magneto-optical drive, a floppy disk, a floppydisk drive (FDD), magnetic tape, a holographic storage medium, asolid-state drive (SSD), a RAM-drive, a SECURE DIGITAL card, a SECUREDIGITAL drive, another suitable computer-readable non-transitory storagemedium, or a suitable combination of these, where appropriate. Acomputer-readable non-transitory storage medium may be volatile,non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile, whereappropriate.

This disclosure contemplates one or more computer-readable storage mediaimplementing any suitable storage. In particular embodiments, acomputer-readable storage medium implements one or more portions ofprocessor 402 (such as, for example, one or more internal registers orcaches), one or more portions of memory 404, one or more portions ofstorage 406, or a combination of these, where appropriate. In particularembodiments, a computer-readable storage medium implements RAM or ROM.In particular embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium implementsvolatile or persistent memory. In particular embodiments, one or morecomputer-readable storage media embody software. Herein, reference tosoftware may encompass one or more applications, bytecode, one or morecomputer programs, one or more executables, one or more instructions,logic, machine code, one or more scripts, or source code, and viceversa, where appropriate. In particular embodiments, software includesone or more application programming interfaces (APIs). This disclosurecontemplates any suitable software written or otherwise expressed in anysuitable programming language or combination of programming languages.In particular embodiments, software is expressed as source code orobject code. In particular embodiments, software is expressed in ahigher-level programming language, such as, for example, C, Perl, or asuitable extension thereof. In particular embodiments, software isexpressed in a lower-level programming language, such as assemblylanguage (or machine code). In particular embodiments, software isexpressed in JAVA. In particular embodiments, software is expressed inHyper Text Markup Language (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), orother suitable markup language.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example network environment 500. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable network environment 500. As an example and notby way of limitation, although this disclosure describes and illustratesa network environment 500 that implements a client-server model, thisdisclosure contemplates one or more portions of a network environment500 being peer-to-peer, where appropriate. Particular embodiments mayoperate in whole or in part in one or more network environments 500. Inparticular embodiments, one or more elements of network environment 500provide functionality described or illustrated herein. Particularembodiments include one or more portions of network environment 500.Network environment 500 includes a network 510 coupling one or moreservers 520 and one or more clients 530 to each other. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable network 510. As an example and not by way oflimitation, one or more portions of network 510 may include an ad hocnetwork, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), alocal area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network(WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), aportion of the Internet, a portion of the Public Switched TelephoneNetwork (PSTN), a cellular telephone network, or a combination of two ormore of these. Network 510 may include one or more networks 510.

Links 550 couple servers 520 and clients 530 to network 510 or to eachother. This disclosure contemplates any suitable links 550. As anexample and not by way of limitation, one or more links 550 each includeone or more wireline (such as, for example, Digital Subscriber Line(DSL) or Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS)),wireless (such as, for example, Wi-Fi or Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX)) or optical (such as, for example, SynchronousOptical Network (SONET) or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)) links550. In particular embodiments, one or more links 550 each includes anintranet, an extranet, a VPN, a LAN, a WLAN, a WAN, a MAN, acommunications network, a satellite network, a portion of the Internet,or another link 550 or a combination of two or more such links 550.Links 550 need not necessarily be the same throughout networkenvironment 500. One or more first links 550 may differ in one or morerespects from one or more second links 550.

This disclosure contemplates any suitable servers 520. As an example andnot by way of limitation, one or more servers 520 may each include oneor more advertising servers, applications servers, catalog servers,communications servers, database servers, exchange servers, fax servers,file servers, game servers, home servers, mail servers, message servers,news servers, name or DNS servers, print servers, proxy servers, soundservers, standalone servers, web servers, or web-feed servers. Inparticular embodiments, a server 520 includes hardware, software, orboth for providing the functionality of server 520. As an example andnot by way of limitation, a server 520 that operates as a web server maybe capable of hosting websites containing web pages or elements of webpages and include appropriate hardware, software, or both for doing so.In particular embodiments, a web server may host HTML or other suitablefiles or dynamically create or constitute files for web pages onrequest. In response to a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or otherrequest from a client 530, the web server may communicate one or moresuch files to client 530. As another example, a server 520 that operatesas a mail server may be capable of providing e-mail services to one ormore clients 530. As another example, a server 520 that operates as adatabase server may be capable of providing an interface for interactingwith one or more data stores (such as, for example, data stores 540described below). Where appropriate, a server 520 may include one ormore servers 520; be unitary or distributed; span multiple locations;span multiple machines; span multiple datacenters; or reside in a cloud,which may include one or more cloud components in one or more networks.

In particular embodiments, one or more links 550 may couple a server 520to one or more data stores 540. A data store 540 may store any suitableinformation, and the contents of a data store 540 may be organized inany suitable manner. As an example and not by way or limitation, thecontents of a data store 540 may be stored as a dimensional, flat,hierarchical, network, object-oriented, relational, XML, or othersuitable database or a combination or two or more of these. A data store540 (or a server 520 coupled to it) may include a database-managementsystem or other hardware or software for managing the contents of datastore 540. The database-management system may perform read and writeoperations, delete or erase data, perform data deduplication, query orsearch the contents of data store 540, or provide other access to datastore 540.

In particular embodiments, one or more servers 520 may each include oneor more search engines 522. A search engine 522 may include hardware,software, or both for providing the functionality of search engine 522.As an example and not by way of limitation, a search engine 522 mayimplement one or more search algorithms to identify network resources inresponse to search queries received at search engine 522, one or moreranking algorithms to rank identified network resources, or one or moresummarization algorithms to summarize identified network resources. Inparticular embodiments, a ranking algorithm implemented by a searchengine 522 may use a machine-learned ranking formula, which the rankingalgorithm may obtain automatically from a set of training dataconstructed from pairs of search queries and selected Uniform ResourceLocators (URLs), where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, one or more servers 520 may each include oneor more data monitors/collectors 524. A data monitor/collection 524 mayinclude hardware, software, or both for providing the functionality ofdata collector/collector 524. As an example and not by way oflimitation, a data monitor/collector 524 at a server 520 may monitor andcollect network-traffic data at server 520 and store the network-trafficdata in one or more data stores 540. In particular embodiments, server520 or another device may extract pairs of search queries and selectedURLs from the network-traffic data, where appropriate.

This disclosure contemplates any suitable clients 530. A client 530 mayenable a user at client 530 to access or otherwise communicate withnetwork 510, servers 520, or other clients 530. As an example and not byway of limitation, a client 530 may have a web browser, such asMICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER or MOZILLA FIREFOX, and may have one or moreadd-ons, plug-ins, or other extensions, such as GOOGLE TOOLBAR or YAHOOTOOLBAR. A client 530 may be an electronic device including hardware,software, or both for providing the functionality of client 530. As anexample and not by way of limitation, a client 530 may, whereappropriate, be an embedded computer system, an SOC, an SBC (such as,for example, a COM or SOM), a desktop computer system, a laptop ornotebook computer system, an interactive kiosk, a mainframe, a mesh ofcomputer systems, a mobile telephone, a PDA, a netbook computer system,a server, a tablet computer system, or a combination of two or more ofthese. Where appropriate, a client 530 may include one or more clients530; be unitary or distributed; span multiple locations; span multiplemachines; span multiple datacenters; or reside in a cloud, which mayinclude one or more cloud components in one or more networks.

Herein, “or” is inclusive and not exclusive, unless expressly indicatedotherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A or B”means “A, B, or both,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicatedotherwise by context. Moreover, “and” is both joint and several, unlessexpressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.Therefore, herein, “A and B” means “A and B, jointly or severally,”unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.Furthermore, “a”, “an,” or “the” is intended to mean “one or more,”unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.Therefore, herein, “an A” or “the A” means “one or more A,” unlessexpressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.

This disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions, variations,alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments herein that aperson having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Similarly,where appropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the exampleembodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art wouldcomprehend. Moreover, this disclosure encompasses any suitablecombination of one or more features from any example embodiment with oneor more features of any other example embodiment herein that a personhaving ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Furthermore,reference in the appended claims to an apparatus or system or acomponent of an apparatus or system being adapted to, arranged to,capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operative toperform a particular function encompasses that apparatus, system,component, whether or not it or that particular function is activated,turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, or componentis so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled, operable, oroperative.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising, by a client system of auser: sending, to a system of an online social network, a uniqueidentifier (ID) associated with the user; downloading, from a system, asoftware application and an installation ID, the software applicationbeing operable to access social-networking data associated with the userfrom the online social network; sending, to the system, a request forauthorization to access the social-networking data via the softwareapplication, wherein the request comprises the installation ID;receiving, from the system, a response to the request, wherein theresponse comprises an authorization from the online social network basedon an evaluation of the installation ID; and executing, by the clientdevice, the software application to access the social-networking dataresponsive to receiving the authorization from the online socialnetwork.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to therequest for authorization to access the social-networking data, sending,to the system, an first request for authorization to install thesoftware application to the client system, the initial requestcomprising the installation ID.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein whenthe installation ID is determined to be invalid, receiving, from thesystem, a second request to authenticate the user of the client systemprior to receiving the response from the system comprising theauthorization to access the social-networking data via the softwareapplication.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, in responseto the second request, sending, to the system, the unique ID associatedwith the user.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein when the installationID is determined to be valid, receiving, from the system, the responsecomprising the authorization from the online social network, wherein theresponse comprises an access token that indicates the softwareapplication has been authorized by the online social network to accessthe social-networking data.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theinstallation ID comprises a timestamp.
 7. The method of claim 6, whereinthe timestamp is based on: a time when the client system sent the uniqueID associated with the user to the system, or a time when the softwareapplication was downloaded by the client system.
 8. The method of claim7, further comprising, when it is determined that the timestamp is olderthan a threshold period of time, receiving, from the system, a requestto authenticate the user of the client system prior to receiving theresponse from the system comprising the authorization to access thesocial-networking data via the software application.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the threshold period of time is 24 hours.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the user is associated with the online socialnetwork.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the installation ID isencrypted.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the installation ID isencrypted using asymmetric key cryptography.
 13. The method of claim 11,further comprising: decrypting the installation ID after downloading,from the system, the software application and the installation ID; andstoring the decrypted installation ID on the client system.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising, prior to sending, to the system,the request for authorization to access the social-networking data viathe software application, encrypting the installation ID to form asecond installation ID, and sending the encrypted second installation IDwith the request, wherein the encrypted second installation ID isdifferent from the encrypted installation ID.
 15. The method of claim 1,wherein the software application comprises one or more data files thatallow the client system to access a computer application via a networkcloud associated with the online social network.
 16. The method of claim1, wherein the software application comprises data that allows theclient system to access a web-based computer application via a browserapplication associated with the online social network.
 17. An apparatuscomprising: one or more processors; and a memory coupled to theprocessors comprising instructions executable by the processors, theprocessors operable when executing the instructions to: send, to asystem of an online social network, a unique identifier (ID) associatedwith the user; download, from a system, a software application and aninstallation ID, the software application being operable to accesssocial-networking data associated with the user from the online socialnetwork; send, to the system, a request for authorization to access thesocial-networking data via the software application, wherein the requestcomprises the installation ID; receive, from the system, a response tothe request, wherein the response comprises an authorization from theonline social network based on an evaluation of the installation ID; andexecute, by the client device, the software application to access thesocial-networking data responsive to receiving the authorization fromthe online social network.
 18. One or more computer-readablenon-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable whenexecuted to: send, to a system of an online social network, a uniqueidentifier (ID) associated with the user; download, from a system, asoftware application and an installation ID, the software applicationbeing operable to access social-networking data associated with the userfrom the online social network; send, to the system, a request forauthorization to access the social-networking data via the softwareapplication, wherein the request comprises the installation ID; receive,from the system, a response to the request, wherein the responsecomprises an authorization from the online social network based on anevaluation of the installation ID; and execute, by the client device,the software application to access the social-networking data responsiveto receiving the authorization from the online social network.